As we continue on in Holy week I thought I would talk a few minutes about the Christian’s procession of Faith. I believe most denominations recite either the Apostles Creed or the Nicene Creed. Both of these creeds go far back in history and describe what it is we believe as Christians.
But what actually is this belief? There is a whole litany of data there but where does this all start and I guess too why do we go through the bother of repeating this week after week
Repetition is the key
One thing we have to recognize is that most people’s memory fades and or actually changes over time. This is nothing strange or uncommon… as a matter of fact if it didn’t that would be uncommon. But think back to those earliest times you can remember or a big event of your life… what clothes were you wearing?, how did you fix your hair?… You remember this well, right? Now take a look at a picture from that event… there are some slight and some large variations from what we remember and that is just part of the deal, I guess
So repetition may be the best way to remind ourselves what we believe and what we say we believe at least.
Our Desire is to Know God
We have to set a few ground rules though… First our desire to know God is written on he human heart. By that I mean from our core of existence we really recognize we come from God. While our Mothers and Fathers obviously played a big role in this… the role that God played is over and far beyond that. Or soul our very being came from God we are far more than the result of a sperm and ovum getting together. When we look down into ourselves and do a bit of introspection. We recognize the fact that we are more than just a body.
That is, the I, the person, me…which we say in I believe… there are a few things there we have to look at. There is obviously the body, there is the soul or maybe it might be heard as a life force… There are lots of words for it but for sake of no better word I will just use soul. Then there is the intellect that we have. With that comes our will. There is more to this but you can see each of us are far more than just a body.
Know yourself
Most of these things which we talk about as being human really is at the core of religion. Obviously God is there, but really working on getting to know ourselves is pretty critical to having a relationship with God. If one doesn’t understand or admit the good and bad things we find within ourselves, trying to know God is somewhat of a pointless venture.
This potential roadblock is actually quite common. We have over the years found many ways to speak about God and to God. Long before Judaism or Christianity people still had the same calling to be with their Creator. But anytime we try to talk about God we come up short. Our human words simply do not have the capacity to talk about God. And for some even if we do find a fitting word, some will find it troubling.
How we talk about God
For instance Christians tend to talk of God as Father or Abba etc.. This works well and does speak to certain aspects of God. However, one has to know what a father is and what a father does. If for instance one had an abusive father then this concept is not going to be able to have a free or fruitful relationship. The only possibility is that the person works through and comes to grips with their hurts and attitudes which may after time allow the idea of Father to not be such a bad one.
Many people tend to ignore this part of religion and they create their own work-arounds that while they may be able to have a relationship with God they either stunt its growth or worse yet end up creating God in their image. God of course can work with this and has for millennia now. But some of these things should be looked at and resolved.
Don’t be afraid to be perfect
Perhaps the biggest issue is finding out about ourselves is a scary prospect. Our Ego wants us to be perfect… the thought of looking deeply into our own quirks and imperfections simply scare us. Some people can look at this and not bat an eye… others need help. This is where our own individuality comes in. But at the basic level we do know that God is good and He made us. He made us good so no matter what we may come across God gave it to us for a purpose. And that is critical for us to understand who and what we really are.
Once the roadblocks are cracked they tend to fall pretty quickly and one finds out they are pretty good and they indeed are worthy of being loved. And then can love others, including God. Then getting into a good and productive relationship with God allows us to fully understand what it is that we believe, and how we can apply that belief.
Then the life you were meant to lead has finally begun !
Be good, Play Nice, Think God !
For Additional information, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church Paragraphs 1 through 30